Football is the King of Fantasy Sports

The NFL season is almost upon us. I know I’m not the only person out there studying NFL depth charts for the purpose of having the best possible fantasy football team. What is it about the NFL that makes the most popular and exciting fantasy sport? Well it’s really quite simple.Football is by far the best spectator sport. Every single regular season game is meaningful, unlike the other major sports. Baseball has 162 long and boring games. But only the average of your performance matters. I can’t watch basketball or hockey during the regular season with any kind of continuity. It just seems so worthless. In both leagues they just save up for the playoffs, knowing that’s when things really matter. It’s not compelling at all. But every game in the NFL is so important. Players can’t just go through the motions, like basketball and hockey. They have to give it their all every week. And as fans, we can feel that sense of urgency. It makes every game exciting and worth watching.

Also, in football each team only plays only once a week. Baseball has at least five or six games a week. Hockey and basketball three or four. One game a week keeps things fresh. You feel like you can’t miss a game. But baseball? To watch every game would not only be impossible, it would be ridiculous. I know there are some die-hard fans out there that attempt this boring task, but they are far outnumbered by the fans that just catch one or two games a week, if that.

Basketball and hockey give us a more realistic chance of watching every game. But three or four games a week is still too much. We still get that same monotonous feeling seeing teams play so frequently. And as for fantasy leagues, one game a week is the perfect amount. You have a whole week to prepare for each match-up. If you’re lazy, fantasy football is still there for you. But if you get lazy in your fantasy baseball league, things will go downhill quick. You need to make daily changes to your line-up in order to stay competitive. No one has time for that. And if they do, it won’t take long for them to get sick of it. Believe me, I have been down that road before, and I’m glad I’m no longer on it.

Fantasy basketball and hockey don’t require the immense time commitment that fantasy baseball does. You can get away with a few line-up changes per week. Maybe your team is still doing well without you regularly monitoring it. But things can go bad quickly. You leave Carmelo Anthony in for a week straight, not realizing he doesn’t even suit up for any games that week. Or you go on vacation for a few weeks, and when you get back your team has somehow gone from second to seventh place. Here is where fantasy football is there for you.

You have a whole week to notice if any of your top guys get hurt. Michael Vick reinjures his hamstring on Tuesday? If you put your TV on ESPN at all during the week, you’ll know. Going to Lake Tahoe for an eight day trip? Well you might miss out on a few injury updates, but you can set your line-up before you leave, and not have to worry too much. But you couldn’t get away with that with the other major fantasy sports. It is feasible to go through and set every day for your line-up in advance, but where’s the fun in that?

There’s plenty of fun to be found in fantasy football, though. Every week you match wits with a co-worker or fellow enthusiast for bragging rights. There is nothing better than watching NFL Primetime on Sunday night, waiting and hoping your guys had a good game. And I know am one of the many fans out there that is cheering for Chad Johnson to get his third TD of the game, despite the fact the Bengals are losing by four touchdowns. Or that David Thornton will pick up his tenth tackle of the game so I can get a few more needed points. Some may argue rooting for individuals to rack up meaningless statistics undermines the purity of the football watching experience. Well they may be right, but on Sunday, you need every TD, reception, yard, tackle, sack, and interception to get the job done. The fantasy aspect of football adds much more enjoyment to a sport that already is the most competitive and interesting of all the main sports.